Saving to Floppy on Yamaha PSR-6700

[Keith Borde]

Hi all,
I bought this keyboard 2 years ago second hand (of course) and have never thought of using its sequencer until now, as it looks like a fun way to use some accompaniment on stage without laptops. It seems though that I can't save anything I record unless it goes into the floppy drive on the side on the keyboard.
The disk(ette?) I received with the keyboard was not original but a writable one which had "psr-6700" handwritten on its label. When I insert it nothing happens, no light goes on either on the keyboard display or the drive. Whatever I try to do that would require to use it, the display says "not found disk".
Question is: do you think that the disk or the drive are bad? If its the former, would a blank disk not be enough, does it have to contain something and is it something i could find online? I guess if its the latter I wouldn't put money into fixing it though.
Thanks!

 

[Ted Nicoson]

The PSR-6700 was released in 1991. That makes it, and probably the diskette you have, 26 years old. At that age, there is every likelihood that either the diskette or the diskette drive OR BOTH could be bad - or worse - that the diskette drive control circuits in the keyboard are bad. The part that bothers me is that, normally, when you first insert a diskette (good or bad), the drive LED will light momentarily and the diskette will rotate momentarily while the drive "checks" it. You are not even seeing that, which would tend to indicate that either the drive or its control circuits, or both, are bad. The least expensive approach, at this stage, would be to obtain a known good diskette (from a friend or acquaintance ?) and see if the drive can format it. If it can not, then the drive is bad, and then you can determine if you want to go the expense of having it repaired.

 

[Keith Borde]

Oh, just seen your reply. It's like I thought myself... none of the diskettes I use make the drive react in any way. I'll try opening it up and maybe having the drive checked. Thanks anyway!

 

[SeaGtGruff]

A lot of people who have an older keyboard with a floppy disk drive end up choosing to convert the floppy disk drive into a USB port that enulates a floppy disk drive. I have zero experience with that, but if you search the web you can find more information-- try something like "PSR 6700 convert floppy drive to USB."

 

[Jazzze]

The PSR-6700 was released in 1991. That makes it, and probably the diskette you have, 26 years old. At that age, there is every likelihood that either the diskette or the diskette drive OR BOTH could be bad - or worse - that the diskette drive control circuits in the keyboard are bad. The part that bothers me is that, normally, when you first insert a diskette (good or bad), the drive LED will light momentarily and the diskette will rotate momentarily while the drive "checks" it. You are not even seeing that, which would tend to indicate that either the drive or its control circuits, or both, are bad. The least expensive approach, at this stage, would be to obtain a known good diskette (from a friend or acquaintance ?) and see if the drive can format it. If it can not, then the drive is bad, and then you can determine if you want to go the expense of having it repaired.

Me too have a similar problem BUT I can see the red blink and hear the floppy clicking i place. The display says ”Unformat disk! Format disk?(To disk) / Type Error or Unformat(From disk). The disks I try are OK. Problem occured after long time not in use.

A lot of music is stored and I can’t reach it

I’ve repeatedly restarted and reloaded with the same sad result.

Could it be some filthy ”reading eye to be cleaned or rinsed.

Please give me some (cheap) good advice! /Jazzze

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Welcome, @Jazzze!

Floppy disk drives can be notorious for the heads getting dirty or out of alignment, leading to problems reading the disks. If you can find a floppy disk drive cleaning kit, you could try cleaning the heads, although that can be a tricky proposition; if the cleaning disk is dirty, it can actually deposit dirt onto the heads instead of cleaning them, or even scratch the surface of the heads. You might want to search the web for instructions or even videos about how to safely clean floppy disk drive heads.

Also, floppy disks can lose their data if they become demagnetized or aren't stored properly; for example, you do not want to leave them lying on a speaker, TV, or other device that has a magnetic field.

 

[Jazzze]

Thanks - I’ll see what can be found.
Is it very hard to get into the disc station and clean the heads manually-e g by hand?

How to dismantle it?

Have a clue?

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I don't have any idea, but you could check the following to see if it contains any helpful information:

Service manual, eprom result list | Elektrotanya

Find service and user manuals | Elektrotanya | 2023/11/22

elektrotanya.com

 

[Jazzze]

Thanks a lot for all heIp so far!

I tried to clean the drive after watching tutorials on You Tube. I even dismantled the instrument to get into the floppy driver. (MANY screwes!!). - but no success.

Perhaps some other severe issue then inside the e g the circuits?

I saw the option to buy a more conveniant usb device- floppy disc emulgator- but then I still have my music on discs.

But IF the problem is inside the instrument and NOT in the floppy driver that would be a bad and expensive idea..

I wonder; where to find those people that have changed to an usb emulgator of conveniance reason?
For them the floppy drive
would be of little value now but for me - like gold (eventually)...

Can anybody give me a tip on this?
A forum or sight for getting in contact with some of them exept for this eminent forum?